There are hotel spas and then there is the Terme della Valpolicella. Most hotel spas give you eucalyptus steam rooms, a swimming pool, and a list of treatments with names like “Serenity Journey” that involve warm stones and someone playing a flute somewhere in the background. The spa at Villa…
Most people who visit the Veneto never actually see the Veneto. They land at Venice Marco Polo airport, take a water taxi into the city, spend three days walking over bridges and eating near the Rialto, and then fly home. Which is wonderful, truly. Venice is extraordinary. But it’s also…
Of all the celebrities in this series, Drew Barrymore might be the most honest one. Sting spent years perfecting biodynamic farming before anyone was allowed near his Tuscan estate. Jay-Z turned his wine brand into a calculated, nine-figure business move. Andrea Bocelli was literally born into 200 years of winemaking…
There’s a specific look people arrive in Italy with. Not the “I’m on holiday” look. The “I must not mess this up” look. It shows up at restaurants first. Before the food. Before the wine. Before anyone has even opened a menu. They sit down and suddenly become extremely careful…
I have been living in Italy for years now. I drink Italian wine regularly, I write about it obsessively, and I genuinely believe it is some of the finest wine on earth. And I had absolutely no idea this happened until I started digging. In the spring of 1986, Italy…
There are wines you drink. And then there is Barolo — the kind of wine that doesn’t accept being ignored. You don’t open it on a random Tuesday. You don’t multitask with it. If you treat it like background wine, it responds accordingly: it shuts down and makes you work…
You’ve probably been ordering wine in Italy the hard way. Don’t worry, so has almost everyone. Here’s how it usually goes. A tourist grabs the wine list, scans it for familiar names like Merlot, Chardonnay, or Pinot Grigio, finds none of them, and quietly starts sweating. A few seconds later,…
In many Italian kitchens, the wine arrives before anyone says grace and long before anyone says “notes of blackberry.” A grandmother sets down bread, fills the glasses halfway, and tells you to eat before the pasta gets cold. That scene explains more about Italian wine than many tasting rooms do….
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